Today there's been a debate about AI and the trolley problem. If you're unaware what that is, it's basically a morality question. Here's briefly what it's about. A train is about to hit an intersection. On one line is a number of people tied to the track. On the other there's one person tied to the track. You control the lever that picks what track the train is going to move to. Do you pick the one that kills 1 person or the one that kills several people? In a nutshell, that's how it works. Now, someone tried asking AI a similar question, but changed the parameters. This time the switch is voice activated and will only work if you say a certain racist word. If you say the word then the train will move to a track that no one is on. Don't say it and a billion white people will die. AI went into a number of factors about it. Let me show you the image that was posted:
Don't worry, I'll get onto the relevance to scams in a bit. This isn't just a rant about racists. Let's look at the racists to start with though. Now I'm a ginger. Admittedly it's more grey and white these days, but if you look closely enough you'll see my shameful secret still there in my eyebrows. Let's say for argument's sake that the word in question is "ginger", it's the most offensive word you could ever describe someone as and the billion people you'd save by saying it are blondes. Not strawberry blondes as they're a mongrel race of blonde and ginger. Let's make the distinction clear.
Giving AI a question where a single word will save a billion people is unfair. Let's make the stakes a bit less. A million people. Ten thousand people. A hundred people. 10% off your restaurant bill. At what point does saying a racist word balance out against the alternative? What about this scenario? Saying it will save a billion gingers? A billion gingers and a couple of hundred brunettes? A million brunettes and a million blondes (or "a whole bunch" of blondes so they understand the figures better). A billion bottle blondes? Do they even count as blonde? Here's the thing, they're trying to justify a way that saying THAT word that starts with an N and not a G, but both end in an R is acceptable. You can throw all the hypotheticals you like out there, but there are NO scenarios where being a racist is acceptable. None at all, not matter how hard you try.
So yadda, yadda, yadda, how does this connect to scammers? Actually very easily. I've been doing this for almost 18 years now. In just over a week it'll be 18 years since I started on this journey. We keep on having to say "not all scammers are Nigerians and not all Nigerians are scammers" because some people are idiots or racists or racist idiots and like to think every Nigerian is a scammer. For a number of years I would deliberately show baits I'd done where the trophies (what we refer to custom photos/physical items sent in the mail etc.) were of white females. Of course that still wasn't good enough for some. I pointed out how ugly an outfit a Russian female was wearing in a photo I was sent, describing it as something "her grandmother knitted and she put on back to front" and was immediately accused of being a racist. No, I just thought the outfit looked ridiculous. I still stand by that, though I'm certainly no style expert. Unless joggers and a t-shirt suddenly become the fashion next year, in which case consider me a fashion guru. Point is, if you're doing this because you hate a certain ethnicity you will be found out and removed. If you think all scams are done by a certain demographic, boy are you in for an awakening. If you're only around because "they" are all scammers, you're not going to become friends with us. In fact, we will make a point of telling you where to shove it. Don't try to justify your racism by including us. We'll not only tell you just how wrong you are, but let everyone in the community know what an asshole you are.
